Is the husband obliged to give zakaat al-fitr on behalf of his Christian wife?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

Zakaat al-fitr
must be paid on behalf of every free Muslim, male or female, old or young.
With regard to the non-Muslim, zakaat al-fitr is not obligatory for him,
because of the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) who
said: The Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
enjoined zakaat al-fitr upon the people at the end of Ramadan, a saa‘ of
dates or a saa‘ of barley, upon everyone, free or slave, male or female,
among the Muslims. Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1504) and Muslim (984).

It says in
Mughni al-Muhtaaj (2/122): No zakaat al-fitr is required of one who is
originally a non-Muslim, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) said: “of the Muslims”, and this is the consensus of the
Muslims. al-Maawardi said: … because it is a purification, and he (the
non-Muslim) is not one of its people [i.e., it is a purification from sin,
and there is no purification from sin for the non-Muslim unless he becomes
Muslim]. End quote.

Abu Ishaaq
ash-Shiraazi said in al-Muhadhdhab: Nothing is required of him except
the zakaat al-fitr of a Muslim. If the one on whose behalf he is giving it
is a non-Muslim, he is not required to give zakaat al-fitr on his behalf,
because of the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar, “[it was enjoined] upon everyone, male
or female, free or slave, among the Muslims”. Moreover, the purpose of
zakaat al-fitr is purification of the one on whose behalf it is given, and
the disbeliever cannot be purified [of sin]. End quote.

An-Nawawi said:
ash-Shaafa‘i and his companions said: He is not obliged to give anything
except the zakaat al-fitr of a Muslim; if he has a relative or a wife or a
slave who is a non-Muslim, he is obliged to spend on them, but he is not
obliged to give zakaat al-fitr on their behalf. There is no difference of
opinion concerning this matter among us. This was also stated by Maalik,
Ahmad and Abu Thawr. End quote from al-Majmoo‘ (6/74)

Al-Hijjaawi said
in Zaad al-Mustaqni‘: He should pay it on his own behalf and on
behalf of any Muslim on whom he spends.

Shaykh Ibn
‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said in ash-Sharh al-Mumti‘
(6/155): It may be understood from the author’s words (may Allah have mercy
on him) that he should not give zakaat al-fitr on behalf of a non-Muslim
wife or a non-Muslim slave. End quote.

To sum up: the
Muslim husband does not have to pay zakaat al-fitr on behalf of his
non-Muslim wife.

And Allah knows
best.